Telugu bug: Apple to fix issue that leads iPhone and other devices to crash if they receive special letter

Andrew Griffin
Friday 16 February 2018 09:52 GMT
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Apple is rolling out a fix to a problem that means iPhones, iPads and other devices can crash if they receive just one letter.

A bug in its operating systems – iOS 11, the latest version of macOS, and the software for its Watch and TV box – means that if it receives a single letter in Indian language Telegu the device will crash.

If anyone sends the character and it's opened in a messaging app, the phone will crash. It affects not only Apple's own iMessage but other apps running on iPhones, like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger.

Users have been advised not to open any message that might include the character, and to delete them if possible.

Apple has said it is working on a fix for those operating systems, which is expected to come soon. The problem has already been fixed in beta versions of the software.

Older versions of the same operating systems aren't affected by the problem. It's not clear what happened to introduce the problem.

Apple's public fix is likely to be released within the coming days. It will probably be rolled out before iOS 11.3 – a major update, scheduled for Spring, that will bring solutions to Apple's iPhone slowing controversy as well as introducing new features.

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